A Love That Heals
by MarinaBrooke
Summary: Hermione Granger isn't the same girl she had been, with the battle over and her parents dead, all she has to look forward to was her last year at Hogwarts. Her plan is to immerse herself in her academics and heal. Draco Malfoy is finally free from his father. All he wants to do is enjoy his freedom. Can they learn to forgive, to heal, to love? Rated M for lemons later
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

She was broken, a shell of the brave heroine she had been for the last seven years. The war had ended, she should have been happy, relishing in their victory. She just couldn't bring herself to feel it. Merlin knows she had tried. She had smiled blankly while the Golden Trio had received their Order of Merlins, First Class of course. Ron and Harry stood beside her, blissfully unaware of her discomfort, both had been smiling and waving with joy in their eyes. She hadn't thought less of them for not feeling the same way she did, for having their joy, she still didn't. Harry had earned it; he was finally free of Voldemort, finally free of everything that had held him down for his seventeen years. Ron had finally had his moment in the sun, why wouldn't he be pleased? He was looked at as a hero in his own right; women were fawning over him, reporters begging for his side of their adventurous tale.

Hermione thought for a moment about that fleeting kiss they had shared during the Battle of Hogwarts. She had gotten swept up in the moment, needing to let out some of her pent up nervous energy, and Ron had been there. She had felt strange when it was over, and stranger still when the battle had finally ended and Ron had taken her hand to lead her into the Great Hall. Harry had looked at their clasped hands, and had told them that it was about time. Everyone had expected them to live happily ever after. It hadn't taken long for Ron to realize that the kiss they had shared was their first, and their last. She imagined it was hard at first, but then the media started knocking on his door, women started stopping him in the street, asking for autographs and photos. The kiss had been quickly chalked up to the adrenaline of the battle.

Now she was sitting on the Hogwarts Express in a carriage with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Ginny and Ron were in the middle of a very heated game of wizards chess, Harry watching with interest, all of them eating their way through a pile of sweets from the trolley. Hermione was sitting in the corner by the door, pretending to read Advanced Potion-Making. All of the students in seventh year had been invited back to school to finish their final year at the castle. Coming back home, that was a start at least to healing herself.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Draco Malfoy had spent the entirety of his life under the thumb of his father, and it was finally over. He should have been deeply upset about Lucius' death, but he just wasn't. Oh he had given the right show, for a bit at least, the mourning son. Underneath it all however, both himself and his mother were relieved that it was over.

He was no longer made to torture innocents, or look on as others did. He looked down at his forearm, thanking Merlin that he hadn't received the Mark. His mother wouldn't let him, the one thing she put her foot down about in all the years that she had been with Lucius. She had paid dearly for her insolence; Lucius himself had performed the Cruciatus curse. She survived though, and that was what mattered.

The Battle had taken a toll on him though. He remembered back to the Room of Requirement. His only job had been to stall Potter so he couldn't get Ravenclaw's diadem, and he had been doing his job. The blundering idiot fucked it all up when he called the Fiendfyre. Nearly had gotten them all killed, and now he owed Potter a debt, as well as the Weasley and Granger. It was over though, the battle was over, and now he sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts express, waiting until he was back at the only place that ever felt like home.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

"Good evening students," Professor McGonagall was standing at the podium in front of the staff table. "This year is one of celebration and mourning. As you all know, last year a battle was fought in this very castle that decided the fate of the wizarding race. We were victorious!" The hall around her cheered, students banged their goblets on the tables and standing up to cheer, there were even a few Slytherins that went along. Namely one Draco Malfoy, which Hermione found puzzling and odd, but welcome nonetheless. Professor McGonagall started speaking again, and the students returned to their seats to listen once more. "Before I send you off to bed, there are a few things you need to be informed of. I was asked to personally make this announcement, but as I find it absolutely ludicrous in the extreme, the honor," she spoke the last word with a venom on her voice that the students could only relate to how she spoke when they were in the deepest trouble, "goes to Mr. Leopold Wix, Head of the newly formed Department of Magical Procreation at the Ministry of Magic." She held out her arm and a tall man with salt and pepper hair and blue eyes like the ocean stepped forward from the corner of the hall. He was dressed rather handsomely, in charcoal black robes with black trim, with a black suit underneath. You could tell by looking at him that he was a well off wizard. Despite the finery that he was wearing, the expression on his face showed that he was nervous, shooting a quick glance at Professor McGonagall, he gingerly walked up to the podium and began to speak.

"Hello students. As you professor has informed you, my name is Leopold Wix, and I am indeed Head of the Department of Magical Procreation. Many of you, in fact all of you, are probably wondering what that means, please, let me explain. Sense the rise, and subsequent fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the wizarding population here in Britain and Scotland have taken a dramatic decrease. We at the Ministry can only speculate at the cause of course, it could be that families didn't want to bring children into a world of chaos, or that the threat of death and destruction had simply not made it a priority, whatever the cause, the fact remains that we are at risk of dying out. In the wake of this post-Voldemort era, the Ministry had decided to pass a Marriage Law." Mr. Wix paused at this, letting it sink in for the students in front of him, and to give them a moment to collect their thoughts, or protest in vain at what he had said.

"You can't do that!" shouted a girl from Hufflepuff.

"This is bullocks!" shouted another from Gryffindor. McGonagall lifted her hands to silence them, gesturing to Mr. Wix to continue his speech.

"I understand that you are upset, fearful, and apprehensive towards this law. It is however, a law, and one that must be followed. Failure to comply will result in the confiscation of your wand until you decide to adhere to the law. The law itself reads as followed." He paused to retrieve a piece of parchment from inside his robes, unfurl it, and then he began to read. "All unmarried magical persons between the ages of seventeen and thirty will be matched with a witch or wizard based on their chance of producing magical children, their age, as well as their compatibility as people. Each couple will have exactly three months from finding out their future spouse to hold a marriage and binding ceremony, as well as take a fidelity oath. From the point of marriage and binding each couple has eighteen months to produce a child, and must have at least two children by their fourth anniversary." Mr. Wix had rolled the parchment back up and put it back into the pocket of his robes. He then pulled out a small intricate box from another pocket, and placed it on the floor, muttering "Engorgio." The small box suddenly grew to stand as tall as Mr. Wixs' waist. The box was beautiful, dark blue in color, with an ornate pattern of gold, silver and bronze leaf overlay. He tapped the clasp, and it melted away like the casket that held the Tri-Wizard cup. In the boxes place now stood a fountain, looking very similar to a metal bird bath. Just like the box that held it, the fountain was wrought in an intricate pattern of gold, silver, and bronze. Mr. Wix put away his wand, and once again turned to speak to the students. "Before you all retire for the evening, you are to write on a piece of parchment your full name, blood status, age, Hogwarts house, and what you currently plan to pursue when you are done with your studies here at Hogwarts, and drop the parchment into the fountain. Tomorrow evening I will be back to announce your pairs, goodnight." With that he turned and walked out of the Great Hall, and Professor McGonagall resumed her place at the podium.

"I know this is a shock to all of you, and I am here to help you in any way I can. Please remember to write down your information before you leave here. Once you are finished, you are dismissed."

Hermione sat in a state of shock and panic. She had stayed respectfully silent during the speech, and now all she could do was sit there with her mouth agape, staring into nothing. It was Ginny that brought her out of her dazed and confused state. "C'mon Hermione, here's your piece of parchment, just fill it out and then we can go to bed." Her tone was gentle. Hermione nodded her head and turned down to the parchment and quill in front of her. _Name: Hermione Granger, Blood Status: Muggle-born, Age: 18, House: Gryffindor, Future Occupation: Unspeakable. _There, she was done. Hermione managed to raise herself from her seat on the Gryffindor table bench and walk over to the fountain that was somehow supposed to find them their perfect magical match. '_Absolutely ridiculous'_ she thought tartly. Hermione turned to walk away from the fountain and knocked into none other than Draco Malfoy. Muttering a quick apology, she bent down to pick up his piece of parchment that had fallen from his hand when he caught her before she completely fell on her face. _'Why did he even do that?'_ Glancing at it, she saw what he had written. _Name: Draco Malfoy, Blood Status: Pureblood, Age: 18, House: Slytherin, Future Occupation: Unspeakable._

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Draco couldn't believe it. With the death of his father he had just barely gotten out of one arranged marriage to a certain Pug faced slag, and now he was being thrown into another one! Logically he understood the reasons, but he was incredulous nonetheless. He had sat at the Slytherin table and listened to Mr. Wix, he knew the reasons why it was necessary, but he had never been able to have a choice in his future. With his father dead, he was supposed to have that freedom. _'I guess I just wasn't meant to have options,' _he thought bitterly to himself as he wrote down his information on a piece of parchment. As he stood up to toss it into that infernal fountain, he nearly got plowed over by the Gryffindor Princess herself. Reacting out of instinct, he had let his parchment fall from his hand as he managed to just catch her before she fell to the ground. She had righted herself, muttered an apology as she grabbed his parchment off the floor, hastily handed it back, and walked briskly out the doors of the Great Hall. _'How odd, no nasty comment about keeping my hands to myself, or watching where I was walking, nothing.'_ Confused, and slightly disappointed that his usual verbal sparring partner didn't seem up to par at the moment, he dropped in his parchment and made his way down to the Slytherin common room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Sorry there's very little dialog from the main characters so far! I'm trying to set the stage, if you will, for what they're getting into. Please also note that I had written that they had six months to get married, and it's written as three in every other chapter that I've written, it was supposed to say three in the first chapter but I missed it, sorry! Thanks in advance for all of your awesome reviews **** Also, thanks to everyone who's read the first chapter and already added it to their list of favorites or following! Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize! It all belongs to the glorious JK Rowling! **

Chapter Two:

Hermione say with the curtains drawn on her four poster bed, curled up in a ball hugging her knees. _'This is just perfect! All I wanted was to just escape!'_ She hugged her pillow tighter to her chest. It had been a whirlwind of a year, on the run with Harry and Ron, the battle, and to top it all off, she had gone back to her childhood home, excited and hopeful to see her house again, it had all shattered. She had found it in ruins, muggle police yellow tape around the perimeter of her parents garden and back yard. Hermione was in shock. She had gone straight to the police station and demanded to know what had happened.

"A couple of blokes in hoods and carryin' sticks came round, neighbors thought they were robbers, so they called us. By the time we had gotten there they had already gone and the house was up in flames. Did our best to put it out, when we went inside there wasn't anyone there. Apparently they went off on some vacation. Nobody's seen them sense." The police officer didn't realize that he had seen death eaters. At the time Hermione was grateful that they had escaped, she thought they were ok.

The next morning she apperated onto the door step of the house her parents were living in in Australia. She had knocked on the door, a smile on her face, ready to reverse the memory charm and hug her mum and dad. That idea went out of her head when an elderly woman had opened the door with a look of confusion on her face.

"Can I help you dear?" she had asked politely.

"Yes, ah, I'm looking for the Wilkensens? They were living here at the beginning of last year." Hermione was confused, maybe they had moved she thought, or had rented out a room to this woman. The woman looked at her with a sad expression on her face.

"Oh I'm sorry love, they died about four months ago. A robbery is what the police said, the house was a wreck. They were found in the kitchen, truth be told, the coroner didn't actually know what killed them, no signs of trauma. Oh I'm so sorry, the papers said they didn't have any family, are you a friend?" Hermione was staring blankly at her, she couldn't or wouldn't believe what this woman had said was true, but she had to. The Death Eaters had found them, and they were dead.

"Yes, you could call me a family friend," Hermione laughed bitterly, "Thank you for your help. Goodbye," and she turned around and left.

She stayed at the Leaky Couldron the rest of the summer, she couldn't go to the Weasleys and have them ask her about her parents. In fact, when they had asked her about them at Kings Cross, she just stared, not saying a thing, and quickly changed the subject. With all of the chaos going on, it looked like Mrs. Weasley was the only one who noticed how quick she was to get off the subject, but Mrs. Weasley respected her choice to not speak about it, and went along with the new conversation.

Now Hermione was all alone, she couldn't get over all of the death and destruction she had seen over the last year and a half, and now instead of taking some time to herself, the ministry was throwing her into a marriage to someone she probably didn't know very well, or even hated. How was she supposed to deal with all of this? _'You are Hermione Jean Granger, you will deal with this with your head held high, and you will pull yourself out of this funk, or at least pretend. Fake it till you make it. You don't have a choice.'_

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

It was the morning of September the second, the day they would find out who their future spouse was, the usual first day of classes announcements were made by Professor McGonagall, along with some more news about the new Marriage Law.

" The Quiddich Captains are as follows; Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbot. Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldstein, Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, Gryffindor, Harry Potter. Congratulations. Please be aware that attendance to the meeting concerning the Marriage Law tonight after dinner is mandatory, not being there to find out who you are paired with does not get you out it. Your time tables are now in front of you," timetables for each student had appeared in front of them at the table. "You will notice that of age students have a study hall at the same time, today that time slot will be used to show you around your living quarters when you get married. I understand that you have three months to get married, but you will begin cohabitating tonight. I will meet you all here at three thirty."

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Seamus, and Luna all walked together to the Great Hall together after their final class was over and they were headed to see what the ministry had provided Hogwarts for student cohabitation. They were the first to arrive, though the other students were quick to follow in behind them. When they were all lined up at the entrance to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall started, "Good afternoon, while you were all in class Mr. Wix and other employees of the Department of Magical Procreation were finishing off the space you all will be living in with your future spouse. All of the men will notice their last names on the doors as of this evening, as the women will soon be taking those names. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to Mr. Wix, and he will begin the tour," She walked them over to the corner of the Great Hall, close to where the door that lead to the trophy room was, and stopped.

Mr. Wix was standing next to a set of ornate double doors that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, holding a box that held multiple sets of keys in his hands. "Right then, let's get started. First I'm going to hand you all your keys. Boys, your keys will already fit into a home, girls, once you find out whom your future spouse is, your key will morph to fit into the designated lock." He started calling out the last names of all the boys, who all walked up when it was their turn and got their key, then passed around the rest of the keys to the girls. Once everyone got their key he opened the doors and led them inside.

If it was under any other circumstance, Hermione would have loved it. Somehow the Ministry employees had managed to fit a small village into Hogwarts. Right in front of them there was a beautiful garden, filled with muggle and magical flowers alike. Around the garden was a circular width of pavement, then the most wonderful little houses. Each one was Victorian in style, and each a different color. Some had benches in the front gardens, some had wishing wells. They were all beautiful though.

"Right, I'll explain the layout first. There are two rings of homes, each home is has two floors. On the main floor are a living room, a half bath, a kitchenette, and a dining alcove. On the second floor is a master bedroom with an attached full bath, as well as another bedroom and a study. You will find that the furnishings are all neutral in color. When you first step into your new home, the house will change to best suit the tastes of both of you. Each house is also equipped with a small back porch and a small back yard. Our goal for these homes is not only for the purpose of housing you, but also to build some inter house unity. You will be required to eat meals in this village three nights a week, please use this time to get to know your spouse, as well as having some people over, build new friendships, and solidify old ones." He quickly walked them into one of the houses nearest them and showed them inside, it was indeed lovely. Once they all had a good look, he called them back to the center garden and started speaking to them once more.

"Alright, we're all going to head back into the Great Hall and announce your spouses! Please follow me!" He clapped his hands and led the way back into the Great Hall.

_ 'Oh Merlin, this is it, I'm going to have to live and procreate with one of these men!_' Hermione started having a small panic attack, _'It's going to be fine, everything will be ok, it's going to be fine.'_

The seventh and 'eighth' years had sat themselves at a new table that had been placed along the staffs. Everyone had just finished eating, the younger students had been dismissed, and now they were just waiting for Mr. Wix to get started. He was standing at the podium once more, and looking into the fountain that would decide the fate of all of them.

"We're just going to jump right into it, as I call your names, please stand up and go straight into the Village, you will find the name of your future family name on the door of your new home." He tapped the top of the fountain with his wand, and out from the middle of the basin shot a spiraling ribbon, as the tip of the ribbon got further out of the basin, it morphed and grew into a shimmering page of parchment that seemed to be made up of the pieces they had offered it the night before. "First on the list, Anthony Goldstein and Melinda Bobbin," they walked up from the table made their way through the large double doors. "Luna Lovegood and Seamus Finnigan," they too walked into the village, Luna seemed to have her signature airy smile on her face, Seamus was grinning like a fool and grabbed her hand after opening the doors for her._ 'Well at least someone might enjoy their situation.'_

More and more couples were called, the fountain seemed not to have cared about Houses, or blood status, everyone was getting paired up seemingly randomly. Only a few of them were left, "Blaise Zabini and Ginerva Weasley," the remaining students in the hall went dead silent. Hermione heard them whispering,

"Wasn't she dating Harry?"

"He'll kill her in his sleep!"

"Nah, she'll set him straight right quick, have you been on the other end of one of her bat bogey hexes?"

It almost seemed fortunate now that Harry and Ginny had split earlier in the summer, they just weren't right for each other. Ginny found him a bit too laid back after the war, to _'vanilla' _for her taste is what she said in her letter actually. Hermione thought for a moment about her and Blaise, she'd never heard anything particularly bad about him, other than that he had a knack for getting into mischief, which as far as being with Ginny goes, isn't a bad thing. _'At least he'll be able to keep up with her, and she knows how to keep men in line growing up with all those brothers.'_ While Hermione had been thinking to herself two other couples had been matched up and had left into the Village. Then he called the boys, her boys, the ones that she had spent the last seven years taking care of, "Harry Potter and Piper Fae," and after one other couple, "Ronald Weasley and Pansy Parkinson." She couldn't believe it, both of them had been matched with Slytherins. She sat there incredulous for a moment, and then she heard it, "Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger."

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

He was absolutely dumbstruck. He was screwed, absolutely screwed. They would kill each other! With all of the bad blood between them, how on earth did that stupid bloody bird bath think he was the perfect match for Hermione Granger. He looked over at her, she had the same look of bafflement on her face as he imagined he did just a few seconds ago. _'Might as well start fixing this now,'_ he slowly got up from his seat, walked over to hers, and put his hand in front of her.

"Up you get Granger, we have a bloody house to look at," she turned to him wearing a blank, stony expression on her face, looked at his hand for a moment, took it, and let him walk her through the double doors and into the Village. "Right," he started awkwardly, "well we should probably find our house," suddenly their keys got hot in their pockets. Draco pulled his out; Hermione didn't seem to register much about what was going on at the moment. He looked at the key in his hand; it now had their address on it. _Row 2, Number 7._ Well that was good; at least he didn't have to drag a zombie-like Granger around to all of the houses to see which one had his name on it. '_It's gonna be her name too you know,' _that little voice in his head that he had avoided and ignored up until now had reared its head. '_Shut up, for now it's still my own bloody name.' _He grabbed Granger around her waist, '_small waist, that's nice at least, Merlin, very nice waist. Oh bloody hell shut up, I really shouldn't be thinking about that,' _he shook his head and marched them to their house, put his key in the lock, and opened the door. '_Home sweet home.'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: A bit longer chapter this time! Hope you all enjoy. Many thanks to those who have followed/favorited the story or me already! Please review! I'd love to hear from you!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the books/movies! All of that is property of the glorious JK Rowling! Anything you don't recognize I managed to figure out all on my own. **** Enjoy!**

Chapter Three:

Draco dragged Hermione by her waist toward their new home '_If someone had told me before today that I would be sharing a house with Hermione Granger, and that in three months she'd be Mrs. Malfoy, I would have laughed in their face. What the bloody hell is the world coming to?'_ Their little Victorian was nice, light yellow in color with cream trim and a nice garden. They had one of the houses with a wishing well in the front, '_Nice enough, it'll do for the year I suppose.'_ Hermione seemed to have noticed where they were going, she pushed his arm from her waist and jammed her key into the lock on the door, leaving it wide open as she stepped inside, Draco following behind her.

The living room was beautiful, pale ivory walls with dark mahogany trim and matching hardwood floors. There was light tan camel back sofa facing towards the fire place, a matching wingback chair sat next to the sofa closest to the door, and on the other side was an extraordinary chaise lounge. A marble, oval coffee table was sitting in front of the fireplace, with a wrought iron wood crate against the wall. Hermione took a seat on the chaise lounge, her delicate ankles crossed, starring into the roaring fireplace. Draco looked over at her, he thought he would go see the rest of the house. As he turned and walked away he heard a funny little squeaking noise. He turned back towards Hermione, '_oh for the love of Merlin, she's crying, what the bloody hell do I do with a crying woman? Oh hell, here goes nothing,'_ and he walked over to her.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

'_I have to be the next Mrs. Bloody Malfoy. The damn fountain could have picked anyone! Anyone! And it thought that Draco Malfoy was my best possible match,'_ and then it really hit her what that meant, living with Malfoy here at school was one thing, but she'd have to go back to Malfoy Manor. The tears started, she tried to keep them quiet, but she had never been a quiet crier. She buried her face in her hands, hoping and praying to any gods she could think of that Malfoy wouldn't notice and just keep walking. Either she missed one, or they just weren't listening today, because just as she had let out an unfortunate sniffle, he turned around and walked over to sit next to her on the lounge.

_ "_Um, Granger, ahh, are you alright?" Hermione looked up at him through her tearstained eyes. She almost laughed right then, he looked like he had no clue what to do with a crying girl. Fidgeting with his hands and not quite looking at her, it would have been humorous to see in any other situation.

"I'm fine, just a bit overwhelmed. What are we supposed to do together? We _hate_ each other!" Draco winced a little at that. "I mean, how many times have you called me a mudblood? How many times have I called you a cockroach or something of the like? Bloody hell, I punched you in the face! And we're supposed to be _married_? I just-" Draco cut her off,

"Now you listen here, I'm going to say this to you right now and get it out of the bloody way. I don't particularly like you. I think you're a know-it-all and that your hair is absolutely ridiculous, I think you wear clothes that are entirely unflattering to anyone, and that you were completely out of your mind to have a crush on the weasel. That being said, every nasty thing I said in correlation to your blood status had everything to do with my father and nothing at all to do with how I feel about anybody, let alone you. You are the smartest bloody witch of our generation, maybe the smartest out of everyone, and that's not an easy thing for me to admit. As far as you saying all of the things you mentioned to me, I deserved every last bit of it. I was a bloody prat, I'm working on it." Hermione sat there dumbfounded. Had Draco Malfoy just admit to being a prat? The world had indeed gone ass over tea kettle.

"Thank you?" she stammered, not quite sure if she should be thanking him for his compliment and apology or insulted about everything else he had said. She didn't have much time to think about it, he had stood up and offered her his hand for the second time that evening.

"Get up off that, and let's go see the rest of the house. Come on, up you get." He took her hand and led her into the kitchen and dining area. It was just as lovely as the living room. White marble countertops with white washed cabinets stood up against a far wall, a stainless steel fridge and oven sitting side by side in the middle. An island sat in the middle, and on the other side was a six chair dining set made of the same wood as the cabinets, the whole room was painted a delicate lilac color. Off the kitchen there was a half bath, a pedestal sink, a framed mirror, and a toilet were the only things inside. They walked back into the living room and up the staircase.

Straight in front of them was their bedroom, painted a light moss green with white trim, plush white carpet on the floor. A queen sized bed was placed up against the far wall, two nightstands on either side. There was a wardrobe opposite the bed on the other wall, a full length mirror stood in the corner next to a door that led to the master bath. The bathroom was exquisite. Light teal, it held a shower stall with glass doors that look liked it could have three people comfortably. There was a hot tub sized bath tub that was sunken into the floor, with stairs leading down into the water. There were a dozen different faucets, each one holding different scented bath soaps. Hermione didn't want to leave, she just wanted to Draco to go away and to sit and relax in the tub. '_Maybe later,'_ she told herself, and walked into the second bedroom with Draco. It was smaller than the master, cream walls and white trim, the same carpet that their room had. In the corner was a crib, a chest of drawers stood against one of the walls, as well as a changing table and infant swing. They didn't stay in this room long; Hermione didn't want to think about what she would have to do to actually get a child in that room. The last room in the house was the study. Hermione couldn't decide what she liked more, the bathroom or this room. It had built in bookshelves across an entire wall. Both of their books had already on the shelves, as well as quite a few others that she assumed had come with the house. Two desks with wingback, swivel leather chairs were on either end of the bookshelf wall, as well as two regular wingback chairs on the wall opposite. She could see herself studying in this room.

Having concluded the tour of the house, they walked back down to the living room and sat down on opposite ends of the couch, both staring off into the fireplace. They sat like this for a while, in uncomfortable silence until Draco turned and spoke to her.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

"Listen Gra-, well I suppose I should call you Hermione now, shouldn't I? Hermione, I think we should get to know each other. You know, like outside of the realm of academics. I'll start with a question, you answer, and then you get to ask one." It was worth a shot, I mean, she couldn't sit like a stone around him for the rest of their lives. She'd only been doing it for fifteen minutes and he was already sick of it. '_What happened to the feisty Granger I knew so well?'_

"Yes, I suppose that could work. I guess we need to um… become acquainted as more that school enemies. You start." She turned to face him, pulling her hair into a ponytail and tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

"Okay, well, what's your favorite color?" _Simple enough,'_ he thought. '_Keep it safe for now.'_

"Oh! Well you're going to laugh, its green." The curl that she had tucked back behind her ear had sprung forward again, she stubbornly placed it back and grinned shyly at him.

"You're kidding," he grinned back at her, "That's my favorite too."

"Well of course it is," she rolled her eyes, still grinning though, '_I guess that's a good sign.' _She turned her head up and tapped her chin for a moment, thinking of a question for him. "Alright, did you have pets growing up?"

Draco turned down his eyes, "No, I didn't, Father wouldn't allow them, didn't see the point in keeping an animal in the house that was supposed to be outdoors." Draco had always wanted a pet. "He said that they would muck up the furniture."

"Oh how sad! I had a cat at home, Mr. Fuzzface I called him." Draco had laughed at the name, "Oh shut up, I was four when we got her," He cut her off,

"Wait, you named a _female_ cat_ Mr. _Fuzzface?" He was really laughing now.

"Like I said, I was four! I couldn't wait to go see him this summer…" Hermione had lost the smile on her face, turning towards the fireplace once more. Draco could tell she didn't want to talk about this summer. He asked her a question quickly to change the subject,

"Next question, favorite food?"

"That's too easy, shrimp and broccoli fettuccini with garlic butter sauce, hands down the best food on the planet." It sounded delicious, he'd have to be sure to remember that one.

They went on for a couple of hours discussing little things about each other. Soon it wasn't as much as a question and answer game as it was an actual conversation. Draco tried to keep the topic of their home lives out of it for now, neither of them were comfortable enough with each other to delve deeper into that right now. The clock above the fireplace chimed midnight, and Hermione jumped up of the couch.

"Oh Merlin, it's midnight! We have to get to bed! We have class tomorrow! I'm going to get into the shower and then go to sleep." She started up the stairs and Draco called after her,

"Right, I'll meet you up there." Hermione had stopped halfway up the stairs. She seemed to have forgotten that they would be sharing a bedroom.

"Oh right, yes, I suppose you will." Draco heard the door to the bedroom open, and then the door to the bathroom close and the water turn on, then he headed upstairs to get on his pajamas and get into bed.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Hermoine quickly opened the wardrobe and retrieved her pajamas, then went into the bathroom. _As much as I would love to get into the tub, a shower would have to do, it's already midnight.'_ She undressed and got into the shower, it seemed to find her perfect temperature all on its own. As she stood and let the water run over her face she thought about the events of the day. How was she going to marry Malfoy, _might as well call him Draco, soon you're going to be a Malfoy too,_ she shuddered a little at the thought. He had been reasonably nice to her today, which was a start she supposed. He had said that calling her mudblood had been something that he had done to please his father, and nothing more, '_I guess I could be his friend for now. He doesn't seem as awful as he was before the war, so that's a good thing I suppose.'_ She stood in the shower for a bit longer, hoping that the water would make all of her grief and hurt and confusion go away. Eventually she had to concede that water alone wouldn't fix her, or her problems, and turned the water off.

She dried herself off, fired a quick spell at her hair and it plaited itself while she put on her pajamas, a green tank top and white sleeping shorts. Trying to stall as long as she could, she brushed her teeth, took her braid out and did it again by hand. Once she ran out of things to occupy her time, she opened the door. '_Head held high Hermione, chin up. It's just a bed, it just so happens that your childhood enemy-turned-nice guy is going to be sharing it with you.'_ A shiver ran up her spine as she walked through the door, and then another for an entirely different reason. He was sitting propped up on pillows reading a bookd, his legs already under the covers. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and Hermione could see how years of Quidditch had paid off for him.

Draco's shoulders were broad and muscled, and his arms were marvelous, well-toned, but not too bulky. Well-defined pectorals led down into the most chiseled set of abs Hermione had ever seen. He was bloody gorgeous. _'Uh oh,' _Draco had looked up from his book and caught her ogling, _'Oh hell, just had to stroke his bloody huge ego.' _

_ "_You can look, it's not like we're not going to ever see each other in anything but our school robes," he smirked at her… and then his eyes started traveling lower than her face.

'_Oh Merlin, he's looking at me, oh Merlin, oh Merlin,'_ Hermione silently cursed that she never wore a bra to bed, and that she hadn't chosen shorts that fell just below her bum.

…*…*…*…*…*…*…*…

Hermione had certainly filled out in the last year. Her hair was still as wild and unruly as ever, but the rest of her had seemed to have been kinder. A nice long neck gave way to a nice full C cup, a trim little waist, a _very_ nice bum, nice and perky and not too big. Her legs though, just about gave Draco a heart attack, they seemed to go on forever. Perfectly toned and gloriously tanned. She looked like she could model for those muggle undergarment adverts.

"You know, you have great legs," he said, just to see if she would blush. She didn't disappoint, at his comment a pink flush crept up her chest and onto her cheeks. _'Bloody hell she looks amazing.'_

"Ah, thank you Malfoy," she said, crossing her arms over her chest incase he decided to comment on those next.

"Why don't we end the evening with an agreement to call each other by our first names?" He pulled the covers back on the other side of the bed and patted the mattress.

"Yah alright," she slid under the covers and laid down as far away from him as possible.

"I'm not going to molest you in your sleep, you know. You don't have to hang half of your body of the bed." She scooted closer to the middle, stopping when there was a half a foot between her and the edge of the bed.

"Um, good night Mal- Draco, talk to you tomorrow." She turned to turn off the light on her nightstand when she felt Draco move on the bed. The next thing she knew he had placed a kiss on her cheek. She turned toward him as he moved his pillows and laid down properly, turning towards her.

"Good night Hermione," and he closed his eyes. Hermione sat there for a few minutes in the dark, pondering once again the events of the day. As she began to nod off she thought to herself, _'Maybe this won't be awful.'_


End file.
